AM6ctT;i8?3AEMo}  Pharmaceutical  Notes.  445 
PHARMACEUTICAL  NOTES. 
By  J.  Donde. 
Vattett's  Ferruginous  Mass,  prepared  by  myself  and  such  as  I 
have  seen  druggists  getting  from  New  York,  becomes  hard  after  some 
time,  so  that  it  cannot  be  used  any  more.  To  avoid  this  change, 
which  I  attribute  to  the  honey,  I  made  some  with  sugar  and  glycerin 
after  the  following  formula  : 
Sulphate  of  iron,  .  .  .    500  grams 
Carbonate  of  sodium,  .  .  600  grams 
Rain  water,         ....       8  litres 
White  sugar  in  powder,  .        .  .  280  grams 
Glycerin,  ....    150  grams 
Operate  by  the  process  of  Soubeiran,  or  follow  the  U.  S.  Pharma- 
copoeia, and  wash,  strain  and  press  the  carbonate  of  iron,  which 
weighs  500  to  600  grams,  add  the  sugar  and  glycerin  and  evaporate 
to  a  pilular  consistence. 
This  preparation  will  keep  for  three  years. 
Syrup  of  Digitalis  suitable  for  Preparing  the  Infusion. — Medicinal 
substances  produce  different  and  sometimes  opposite  effects,  not  only 
in  proportion  to  their  dose,  but  also  in  accordance  with  the  manner 
in  which  they  are  administered.  Thus  :  the  infusion  of  Colombo  is 
used  as  a  tonic,  and  the  decoction  in  dysentery ;  rhubarb  is  tonic  in 
the  dose  of  five  decigrams,  purgative  in  doses  of  four  to  eight  grams, 
and  it  has  an  astringent  action  in  decoction  or  when  roasted.  In 
general,  it  is  evident  that  the  diversity  of  preparation  in  which  a 
medicinal  substance  may  be  given,  in  modifying  its  qualities,  will 
determine  different  and  often  opposite  effects. 
In  the  substances  named  above,  the  pharmacist  should  follow 
closely  the  prescription  of  the  physician,  and  thereby  avoid  all 
trouble,  in  case  the  latter  has  erred  in  the  form  of  the  preparation. 
But  there  are  other  substances — like  fox-glove-— the  correct  pharma- 
ceutical preparation  of  which  is  the  infusion  and  not  the  decoction  ; 
and  if  errors  have  been  made  in  prescribing,  they  must  be  corrected 
by  the  pharmacist,  who  is  educated  not  merely  by  having  practiced 
his  profession  for  four  or  five  years,  but  who  has  also  mastered  the 
principles  of  science. 
I  remember  a  case  in  which  a  physician  prescribed  digitalis  in  de- 
